The UDA is part of the future project to build the housing and land use policy

The University of Azuay, through the School of Architecture and the Institute of Studies of the Sectional Regime of Ecuador (IERSE), actively participates in the project at the national level of construction of the housing policy and plans of use and management of land for the next years.

The project was born from the UN Habitat III international meeting that took place in Ecuador in 2016.

Based on the New Urban Agenda discussed in Habitat III and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Ecuador began to generate the Sustainable Habitat Agenda for Ecuador 2036; in this sense, the HUBs are developed in Territory, to have contributions from the 8 zones of Ecuador ”, explains the professor-researcher Diego Proaño.

The Cuenca Zona-6 territorial HUB began on April 7 and 8, in an event that brought together representatives of civil society, academia, the private sector, local government and the national government. Being a zonal event, the representation came from Azuay, Cañar and Morona Santiago.

The work - says Diego Proaño - is convened by the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing (MIDUVI) and as it involves multisectoral participation, companies, social groups and academic institutions seek to generate a synthesis document that contains a diagnosis, a proposal and a model management.

The University of Azuay became involved from the signing of a framework agreement for inter-institutional cooperation in 2019 with MIDUVI, from the management of the Laboratory of Technology, Architecture and Processes of the School of Architecture.

Thanks to this agreement, Diego Proaño was contacted to coordinate the Territorial HUB and the monitoring of the works, until he had the final synthesis document.

“Based on the application, a call was made within the University and at the moment 15 teachers-researchers from the Research Group of the School of Architecture and IERSE collaborate with the process. We have been meeting weekly at work tables that address the different issues raised ".

The themes are the right to the city and its role, access to habitable land, relationships between the community and its habitat, characteristics of decent and adequate housing, affordable housing and sustainable housing.

Inside the University, a research project has been proposed that extends this work beyond the defined time to support MIDUVI.

“Within the work process, on Saturday, May 9, there was the first plenary to review the progress of the working groups; 60 people participated, sharing valuable contributions and reflections ”, concluded Proaño.